In the last seven years the living standard of the middle class in Armenia has been on decline, says the analytical department of Norvik Universal Credit Organization.

This may lead to irreversible changes: outflow of qualified specialists to western countries and economic decline as middle class is the most active section of the civil society and it is the most sensitive to changes in the economic situation. Now that Armenia is facing financial, banking, industrial, commercial and other crises, the local authorities will hardly provide official statistics on the incomes of the middle class. Meanwhile, experts say that in the coming years the revenues of the middle class in Armenia will drop. If they are right we may face a crisis comparable with the Great Depression of the 1930s and will need at least five years to overcome the consequences of the economic decline.

The consumer agiotage observed over the last few years is not so useful, and now that consumption is abruptly falling, a social shock will be observed. At the same time, the specialists pay attention to the poor layers of population as well. They think the state of this layer's representatives may become even worse in the process of economic decline and unemployment growth. At the same time, the experts think that if the government works out special programs, the state of this population may develop in a different course. In particular, the middle class will be formed from poorer layers of population. The company's analysts think that to support both the middle class and poorer layers of population, it is necessary to decrease prices in the consumer market by increasing competitiveness in the market of essentials. This will decrease the financial load on home economics and the inflation level.

To recall, Norvik UCO is the Armenian branch of Latvian-Icelandic JSC NORVIK BANKA. It was registered and licensed by the Central Bank of Armenia in July 2006 and has been operating since September 2008.